I think it’s about time that I treated you guys to another delicious, warm and hearty Jamaican mealwith bold Caribbean flavours. This gungo pea recipe is definitely timely especially with the cold snap that we’re experiencing, talk about comfort food and of course it has an element of Caribbean flare.

Curry and the Caribbean connection

Curry is something that Caribbean people widely embrace, our love for curry is attributed the Indian labourers who came over in their droves to help rebuild the infrastructure of the islands.

Each island has their own methodology of cooking with curry, however I would say Guyana and Trinidad seemingly has a monopoly in comparison to their neighbours since they both have a greater number of Indian inhabitants.

About gungo peas

What Jamaicans call gungo peas other Islands like Trinidad and Tobago refer to them as pigeon peas. In some respect you can use the term interchangeably since they are the same thing.

These legumes feature in quite a few recipes such as rice and gungo peas. Jamaicans like to rotate between legumes with red kidneys or gungo peas being the preferred choice..

Where to purchase gungo peas

Don’t be alarmed if you have never hear of this legume before, you can purchase it from many places that has a high number of Afro-Caribbean or Asian residents. In the worst case scenario, black eyed peas make be a great substitute or another round legume will do.

Although this recipe is vegan, if you want to put a carnivore spin on things then feel free to add some prawns. I personally like how it tastes using legumes and not to mention filling.

Legumes are a brilliant source of protein, they expand in the stomach and take a while to digest. This slow releasing process helps to keep the body content and suppresses the appetite.

The noodles are low in fatand made from vegetables, butternut squash to be precise, I have a spiraliser which creates excellent grain free noodles. Although, on this occasion I purchased them ready to use from Sainsburys.

What if I cannot source any butternut squash noodles?

Essentially you can either purchase pre-made noodles or use a julienne peeler or a spiraliser to make your own with whichever device you see fit.

How long do gungo peas take to cook?

I used dried peas which take roughly an hour to cook on medium heat. My reason for doing so is simply because I was raised using dried beans/peas and so it’s a hard habit to break. However, you don’t need to follow suit unless you want to.

Canned peas are readily available to buy from the store and much more convenient to use. Alternatively, if you have a pressure cooker then feel free to cook the dried legumes, pressurised to speed up the process.

The ingredients for the recipe

Almost everything in this recipe is homemade or locally sourced for example, the veggies came from my families allotment.

There’s a water soluble Caribbean vegetable called cho cho thrown in there (chayote/christophene) zucchini would make a viable substitute if you’re having trouble finding cho cho.

The curry powder I used was using a recipe from my blogger friend Imma (I highly recommend including her curry powder).

The true flavour is derived from the actual stewed curry pigeon peas since the vegetables are lightly stemmed and unseasoned in a pot separately. The curried peas are added towards the end where it completely penetrates the squash and veggies. Alternatively, you can merge the vegetables with the stewed peas instead, if you wish but I would suggest doing the aforementioned.

Did you make this recipe?

About Charla

My name is Charla and I am passionate foodie who specialises in creating recipes that are not only gluten and dairy free but I also like to tap into my Caribbean heritage making healthy rendition of classic recipes.

It was yummy. We like curry a little sweet and not too hot. I added a teaspoon of date sugar to the peas a a pinch of cayenne ( no scotch bonnets) . I used zucchini, cauliflower and carrots for the vegetable.
I used the leftover coconut milk to to make some rice to go with the peas and vegetables!

This was delicious! I didn’t have pigeon peas, so I ended up using lentils. I also used spaghetti squash instead of butternut squash. I was concerned the color wouldn’t come out right because I have messed up coconut milk sauces before (where it turned out white instead of brown), but your instructions made it easy to get the color right. It was so good! I will definitely be making this again!